Eeva
by Jocelyn Ralph
Summary: You'll just have to read it to find out :D
1. Part 1

My name is Eeva, and I live in the old mansion in Twilight Town. Most people refer to it as being mysterious, which is exactly why I picked it as a home. People tend to avoid things they don't understand.

You see, I have a habit of studying unsafe subjects, and so I prefer the security of solitude. I've been told that when I study something, I devote my whole attention to it. It's true, and is another reason I live a lone – I have no one to ignore.

I suppose I should get to the real story now. Let me start by stating this old cliché: When making a wish (in whatever form), be wary! You may get more than you ask for. Or worse: you'll get it exactly. In my case, it was both. And here's another cliché for you: I'm getting ahead of myself. Now that my brief, customary beginning is over, on with the story!

It begins when news of Ansem and his failure reached me. To say the least, my interest was piqued. Heartless and nobodies became the center of my studies. Nobodies interested me in particular.

But there was no way to study them, apart from written word. My world was at peace, and therefore there were no heartless or nobodies. And traveling? Forget it! I had no ship.

So, how could I study something truly, that I could not observe? It was very frustrating, believe you me!

But my frustration didn't last, since I thought up a solution: magic. My Library was extensive, and had plenty of books on magic. It took my months to learn and then strengthen my magic. I finally reached a level where I was able to easily summon and capture a nobody. Then my research began.

Everything seems obvious in retrospect, but in the moment when things happen, certain details are overlooked. It simply did not occur to me that a nobody would belong to anyone, let alone an entire Organization.

And let me tell you, Organization XIII was considerably less than pleased to discover a missing nobody.


	2. Part 2

Since I kept the nobody imprisoned in the cellar, it was there that I studied it. I had only had it a week, but I was learning so much about them. But as the week drew on, I noticed that items in the mansion were somehow getting displaced. I was getting very unsettled, as you can imagine.

The last day of the week is when I made my biggest discovery yet. It was night, and I had been in bed for quite some time.

I was awakened by some muffled noise. I shot up in my bed, and listened. There was a crash, and I knew something was in the mansion. I picked up the short wooden staff I sometimes played with, and headed down the stairs in the direction of the noise.

It came from the Library, and as I stood in the doorway, I caught a glimpse of a human figure. I sucked in my breath in fright, bit my lip and hurled the wooden object at the figure.

The impact was an audible "thunk", and the figure hissed, whirling about. Faster than I could react to, the figure was pushing me into a wall and pinning me there. I closed my eyes, hoping that would stop the pounding of my heart in my ears. I drew in a sharp breath and opened my eyes to find a pair of green ones staring intently at my face.

The moment of fear was gone as I noticed I was still pinned to the wall. I became indignant and began straining against whoever this intruder was. "Let go of me!" In the dark, I couldn't distinguish any features but those green eyes. The person stepped back a little, releasing me, and the lamps in the room suddenly lit.

Before me stood a tall boy in all black, covered by a long, black coat. "Where is it?" he asked, a deep frown on his face.

I stared incredulously at him, wondering what he could possibly be looking for. "Where is what? Who are you?"

He stared long at me, looking altogether displeased. He crossed his arms impatiently. "The nobody you stole."

I scoffed. "Steal? I didn't steal anything," I said. "It didn't have your name on it. Or anybody's, for that matter. What _is_ your name?" I asked again.

"Axel. The nobody doesn't belong to me," he said, stepping closer to me once more. His red hair almost seemed to sprout flames. "It belongs to the Organization, and they sent me to retrieve it."

It was my turn to cross my arms. "It didn't have their name on it either," I said defiantly, with a smirk. He wiped it off my face.

"Listen. If I don't get this nobody back, you know what will happen?" he asked.

I shook my head.

"The Organization will flood your little world with Heartless, who will take your hearts, as well as with nobodies who will take back the one you stole when it's over. Got it memorized?"

– I contemplated this. "And if I give the nobody to you now, who's to say you won't do that anyway?"

At this, he shrugged, his face stony and uncaring. "No one."

I laughed, stubbornly defiant. "You are terrible at persuasion. You've given me little motivation to give it back," I said and paused, organizing my thoughts. I sighed. "I'll strike you a deal," I continued. "I'll give back the nobody. . .when you've told me all you know of nobodies and heartless," I proposed, watching his face.

He regarded me warily. "I don't know. . ." he said in the most reluctant voice I'd ever heard.

"Take it or leave it. I'm content to take my compromise or your 'hard way'. What'll it be?" I said in a matter-of-fact tone.

He paced back and forth, considering. He sighed loudly and faced me. "Fine," he said grudgingly.

I smiled, then; my most brilliant smile. "Good," I beamed, and then yawned. "Find somewhere to sleep. I'm going back to bed, since my rest was so rudely interrupted," I said, and went back to my room.


	3. Part 3

In the morning, I was woken again by unruly noises. I donned a robe, and stomped down the stairs. "_What _are you _doing_?" I asked in exasperation. The kitchen was a mess.

"You don't have any food," he said, searching a cupboard.

"Yeah! I do," I said, infuriated, and opened the pantry, and waving my arm in front of it. I crossed my arms and glared at him. He ignored me, and stepped into the pantry, grabbing a box of cereal. I shook my head in sheer wonder as he stepped past me to the counter, but said nothing more. I grabbed an apple out of a the fruit bowl, and took a seat at the island in my kitchen's center. "Are you always so noisy?" I asked, grumpy.

He shrugged, and ate his cereal.

"Whatever," I mumbled. "You're going to clean this mess up," I said, "And then we'll start in the library."

"You're not going to help me?" he asked, affronted.

"You didn't need my help in making the mess, I don't see why you should need my help is cleaning it up," I said, feeling like I was talking to a child. He balled his hand into a fist around his spoon. He didn't say anything, but looked altogether displeased. As he ate, he occasionally glanced up to glare at me.

I just looked down at him smugly as I ate my apple, and when he had finished, I took his bowl to the sink so that he could get started at cleaning up.

It took about an hour to get everything back where it belonged, and I did end up helping him, because he couldn't remember where things went (go figure!). So, that being done, I lead him back to the library. I went to find an empty journal to record what he said, and when I got back, he had taken over my study area; reclined in my chair and feet on my desk. I raised an eyebrow, but I supposed it was his version of payback for making him clean my kitchen.

I pulled up an extra chair, and we got started. I wrote down everything he said, and even went so far as to make little diagrams, and such, as needed.

We took a break for lunch, and I asked him about the Organization. He didn't say much about them. Understandable, since they were supposed to be a secret type thing.

We got back to it. It seemed there was a lot to write, but we did get somewhat distracted at times. It seemed Axel only liked conversation as long as he was the only one talking, and there was no interruptions. Of course I had questions, and of course I asked them when they came into my head. It seemed to annoy him, and we spent a lot of time sparring words. I must admit, it was fun for me. I was never around people, so I never got to be infuriating to someone.

But when the day ended, and we decided to cease the day's session of dictating and note-taking, I could be different. I wasn't the academic with a thousand questions when we were eating, or just taking a break. I think I was quite attentive. He was, after all, my guest, if he was so with a grudge. I never had guests either, so this was a treat for me, as well.

Axel noted my change in behavior when we left the study to eat supper in the kitchen. I explained that it was because I never get to be with people, living alone. I apologized for my schizophrenia.

"Why do you live alone?" he asked me.

I sighed, and looked down at my plate. "It's easy," she said. "Because what I do is dangerous a lot of the time."

He cocked an eyebrow at me.

I pursed my lips and looked sideways at him. "If it had been someone else from the Organization, would I still be alive right now? Or would I be a heartless?"

He shrugged. "It depends on who."

I nodded. "You don't know, how could I know? I took a risk with the nobody. That's why I live alone," I said heavily. We both finished our meals in silence. "I'm tired," I said, as I rinsed my plate in the sink. "Good night, Axel."

Silence followed me to my room.


	4. Part 4

After that first night, I don't think that Axel stayed in my house after I went to bed. I guess he probably had other things he had to do, elsewhere in the universe. I never did ask, though. It really wasn't my business, and I really didn't care, as long as it had nothing to do with what we were working on.

The next week and a half went quite as the first day had. During our session, I posed still more questions to him, always interrupting whatever monologue he had entered. There were some things I struggled to understand, and both of us grew frustrated with the other, but those moments passed quickly. I still maintained my annoying, questioning academic persona, but Axel took it a lot better, and seemed to be amused by it now that he understood me a little better.

And in turn, when the end of the day came, I dropped that persona, as I had the first day, and acted as normal as I could manage, which also seemed to amuse Axel.

One the third night, something happened. I know, I know, what a general term, right? Oh well, it's the only one I have to offer. I'm a scientist, not a English major.

I had gone into my room, and fallen asleep. It was well past midnight when I heard noise outside my door. I bit back a scream as I all but jumped out of my bed. Startled would be putting lightly what I felt then. All of a sudden, my door burst open, followed by footsteps and a shadowy figure. Boy, did I have a deja vu moment.

I got up from my bed, only to have my neck grabbed an instant later, as it had been before. Only it was squeezed harder, so that I had to breath in gasps, limiting my ability to speak. So I kicked my leg out at him. The grip on my neck loosened, and I twisted away. "Why do I keep getting assaulted in my own home??!" I demanded.

"Perhaps because you have something that doesn't belong to you," the deep voice answered, his arm making a grab at me again.

I dodged, rather ungracefully, and fell onto the edge of my bed. "That again?" I asked. "You'll have you nobody back when I'm done with it."

Something sharp pressed itself at my throat. "I'm afraid that is not the answer we're looking for," the man said.

"Well, I'm sorry, but that's the only answer I have for you," I said, not at all sorry as I said I was.

Behind him, a portal of darkness opened in my room. Through it stepped a familiar figure. "Saïx, what are you doing?" Axel asked, sounding slightly annoyed.

"Ahh, Axel, there you are. The Organization was beginning to worry about you," the man Axel identified as Saïx said in a silky tone.

"I'm touched," Axel said. "If you're here about the nobody, it's taken care of."

Saïx straightened. "Really? The Organization doesn't seem to think so. If it's not in our hands, it's not taken care of."

"You're Organization is not much for patience is it?" I asked. "I told you, you can have it back when I'm done with it."

The sharpness pressed harder against my throat, and I felt it cut through my skin, deep, but not lethally. I bit back a cry of pain. Saïx was about to say something, but Axel's hand whipped out and gripped Saïx's wrist.

"What do a few days matter to the Organization if we get the nobody back in the end?" Axel asked.

Saïx's eyes narrowed. He jerked his hand away from my throat, and out of Axel's grip. "Very well," he said. "You have three days," he said. Another portal of darkness appeared, and he disappeared into it.


	5. Part 5

Neither of us moved for a few moments after Saïx left. Then I straightened into a sitting position on my bed. My hand almost immediately went to my throat, which was bleeding. It stung when my fingers brushed against it, and I winced.

Axel came over and knelt in front of me. A gloved hand came up to my my bleeding throat, and his brows furrowed. "Are you okay?" he asked.

I nodded.

"You're bleeding," he said.

"I _have_ bled before," I said. "Are all the people in your Organization so charming?"

Axel smirked. "Generally," he said. "But we in the Organization aren't exactly what you call people," he said.

I desperately wanted to ask him what he meant, but my neck was still bleeding, and the blood was trickling down my skin, even though Axel's hand was covering it. So instead, I asked. "Could you get me a towel? There's one in my bathroom. . ."

He nodded, and went to get it, and returned. I reached my hand out for it, but he kept it in his hand and sat next to me. He pressed the cloth gently against my neck. My hand came up to grab the cloth, but instead, I grabbed his hand. This flustered me, I'm embarrassed to say. I tried again for the towel, but his hand was wrapped completely around it. I flushed. "I can do it," I said, a little harsher than I intended.

He started at me intently for a moment, causing my blush to deepen, but then he shrugged, and placed the towel in my hand. He stood, and started to walk away.

I stood, too, and followed him."What did you mean when you said the Organization aren't 'people?'" I asked before he had a chance to leave.

He turned, a smirk on his face. "We're nobodies."

I wasn't expecting that. Nobodies that powerful enough to resemble actual people, and powerful enough to command and control other nobodies; that frightened me. I looked sharply up at Axel, seeing him in a new light.

He stepped toward me again, his face darkening. "You're afraid of me?"

"No," I said. It wasn't entirely true.

He stepped closer. "Then what?" his voice was empty, as it always was, and now I knew why.

"I'm unsure of you," I said.

Axel stepped closer still, and I backed away. "What does that mean?"

"What do you think it means?" I asked. "You tell me _now_ that you and the others you work with are Nobodies, so what am I supposed to think?"

He stepped closer again, backing me into my dresser. "Nothing."

I felt my lips twitch, hiding a smirk. "Impossible. I'm a scientist, remember? All I ever do is think." He was very close to me by now, blocking any escape I might have thought to make. Of course, I didn't think to make an escape, as I quite liked my situation.

His green eyes, in fact, his whole face, seemed to be utterly deadpan as they stared down at me; but the rest of him revealed otherwise. I could feel the heat from him, and knew it was more than just his body.

What I said was true. I was unsure of Axel. I didn't know what he was going to do, but I suppose on some level I had an idea. As my uncertainty grew, my breath grew heavier with nervousness. I watched him watch me, and I can only imagine how wide my eyes must have been.

It wouldn't have been so nerve-wracking if he hadn't been staring at me without any kind of expression. I couldn't move away, either, and I was starting to feel closed in. I tried reaching my hand out to the side edge of the dresser, to pull myself away from him sideways, but he caught my hand by the wrist, and caught my other wrist before I could try the same thing with that hand.

Our faces were very close now. So I got another idea: if conventional means of escape weren't going to work, I would try something else. I closed the space between our faces, and firmly my lips against his, hoping to surprise him enough to make an escape.

Only it was me who was surprised. I really didn't expect him to respond to the kiss by kissing me back. Of course, he was a little surprised, but he recovered quicker than I expected. But his hands let go of my wrists to grab my waist, and the heat that was coming off of him intensified. I inhaled sharply, because the sensation I felt was like having been cold for too long, and then being immersed in hot water.

It was glorious.

Thinking back now, I believe the reason he stared so intently was because he wasn't sure what to do. He was the empty shell left over when the heart became a Heartless. He was only part of the person he had been, and he was trying to figure out what he was supposed to do at this intense moment.

Needless to say, he knew exactly what to do from that point on. And his knowledge was vast; at least, according to my limited experience.

The last days went as they had before, and the nights that followed were passionate. And then our last day. . .


	6. Conclusion

Axel and I went through the information fast, and he easily gave up the last of his knowledge in three days. I hated that he was leaving. He knew I did, but I don't think he understood why. During that last day, he seemed very preoccupied, and I knew his mind was elsewhere. He had talked a lot about Sora, the kid that Ansem had mentioned in his journals; and something about Sora's nobody, Roxas, who had been in the Organization. Axel didn't reveal much, though, about Roxas, but I gathered enough from Axel's tone and what little information he offered about him, that Roxas was important to both Axel and the Organization.

I suspected whatever he was thinking, it had to do with either Sora or Roxas, or maybe both. At least, Sora was pretty important in what was happening with the Organization, the Nobodies, and the Heartless. I didn't bother to ask him, though. It was the last day, why ruin it by bugging him about something he didn't want to discuss?

We finished early, as there was little left for him to tell me. I didn't try to delay his leaving. I didn't see the point, because he would still be gone, in the end. I went to the place I kept the Nobody, and brought it back up to Axel. No sooner had I brought it into the room, than it disappeared in a little puff of darkness.

A portal had already begun to form behind Axel. I put on a brave face, or at least a poor attempted at one. My cheeks, I realized a moment later, were wet. Axel reached out a gloved hand to touch my cheek, and then turned and disappeared into the darkness.

I never saw him again.

* * *

OMG I finally finished it hahahaha! Hope you all enjoy it. I had uber fun writing it, but I'm glad it's done! It took me a while, but I pretty much wrote most of this in about two days, and finished it tonight! So here it all is, in one fell swoop!


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